


A Tale To Be Told

by A_Plethora_Of_Peters



Series: It's Tough To Be A God [1]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Brian is a doctor, Gen, Memory Alteration, The Mechs are Gods, disease mention, implied memory manipulation using magic, well most of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26865247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Plethora_Of_Peters/pseuds/A_Plethora_Of_Peters
Summary: It was a fact, often forgotten, that The Scientist does in fact answer every prayer asked of her. Even if it was just to say something like, “Yeah sorry, doing that will fuck over everyone, but you can do this instead!” She could always be counted on to answer her prayers.
Series: It's Tough To Be A God [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959880
Comments: 13
Kudos: 96





	A Tale To Be Told

**Author's Note:**

> So I was bored and at a loss for ideas for stories so on a whim I looked up romance prompts. In the "Fantasy" section I came across this lovely gem:
> 
> _In your universe, the Gods are approachable beings with whom anyone can converse and interact. Following a devastating break-up, you call upon the Gods for the power to prevent tragedy in your life and are bestowed the gift of immortality and magical power, making you the first sorceress in your world. Local townsfolk are afraid of your powers, however, and you must hide from a mob hellbent on burning you at the stake. When a handsome warrior hears of your plight, he comes to your aid, protecting you from those who think that magic is inherently evil._
> 
> And I looked at this prompt and went "Hmmm... Could be less Hetero and far more Queer..."
> 
> So this is the first story of a story that is going to be eventual Polymechs!
> 
> Warning for some mention of a uncurable disease! It's not graphic but I thought I'd still warn y'all anyway!
> 
> Shout out to Alex who helped me with Raphaella's parts! You're a lifesaver my friend!

It was a fact, often forgotten, that The Scientist does in fact answer every prayer asked of her. Even if it was just to say something like, “Yeah sorry, doing that will fuck over everyone, but you can do  _ this _ instead!” She could always be counted on to answer her prayers.

That’s part of why Brian is sitting on his simple bed, his head in his hands as he recites a prayer to her for help.

She is the Goddess of Medicine as well as the Sciences in general so he, a simple mortal doctor trying to save the village he’s been living in for the past decade from a plague, was bound to catch her attention. 

Well... 

He hoped so at least.

“Hear my plea, oh genius Scientist, oh gracious Enlightened One, oh graceful Glider.” Brian starts to repeat quietly for the third time. “I humbly request your guidance on my task. I seek the means to save those who once saved me. Please, I humbly beg, hear me and grant me the inspiration that I need…”

_ Hi! I heard you have a question for me? _

Brian jumps, looking wildly around his tiny one room home. No one else was with him, but he had definitely heard a woman speak to him. It was as clear as if she was standing next to him.

“I-I-” Brian stutters trying to get his thoughts in order. “Yes? I- The people in this town. They saved me, and now I want to save them, but I can't- I don't know how to save them..." It feels kind of stupid talking out loud but it helps him get everything out coherently.

_ What’s the matter with them?  _

Brian immediately says. “There’s a plague infecting the town I live in but it’s not like any I have seen or read about before.” He closes his eyes and admits. “I-I don’t know what else to do. I can’t- I don’t want any more of them to die.”

“Well, looks like we have some work to do then!" The woman’s voice came from directly in front of him now.

He opens his eyes, startled by the closeness of the voice, to find himself seated at a table, scarred by blades and burns, in a surprisingly well stocked and advanced lab. There are other tables in this workshop but the one he's at is definitely the most clear of all of them. There were many cauldrons already bubbling with potions of all types. Scattered here and there were scientific tools, a number of which he can't even begin to guess the use of. Potion ingredients are piled freely and stored in stacks of containers across practically every available flat surface. There were some ingredients that were hanging from long colorful cords with rough labels put on them.

He follows the closest one of these hanging bundles (lavender sprigs) with his eyes up and is awed by the network of colorful ropes and bridges that arch and connect like a spider’s web far above him. He can see dozens of alcoves that the bridges and lines lead to, spiralling up farther than he can see. The only way to get to the lowest of the lines is if you could fly. 

Like The Scientist.

Brian drops his gaze down from the dizzying heights above and finally meets the curious and amused gaze of a woman crouched on a stool across the table from him. She looks much like she is portrayed in art. Her blonde hair gleams like gold as it cascades over her shoulders. Her intelligent blue eyes seem to stare straight into his soul and analyze him like a very interesting experiment.

Interestingly instead of an owl's wings, her wings are oddly mechanical with shiny bronze and silver feathers and clear pivoting joints. Also rather than the elegant flowing robes that she was frequently depicted wearing, the Scientist has a practical, but very finely made and embroidered tunic over slim pants and sturdy boots.

Brian blushes as he registers how beautiful she is and drops his gaze down to the tabletop. He hasn't been transported to any old lab. He's in her domain, her personal workshop. "T-Thank you for your assistance."

She laughs, the noise bell-like in it's tone, and is smiling when he glances up at her. She looks radiant and Brian gets lost in her gaze as she looks fondly at him.

"Of course! You're impressively dedicated to your studies. There really are some great advances that you've made so far. You just need a bit of help, but that's where I come in!"

She says something else but he is admittedly distracted by her voice and the flattery. Her voice is as clear as a glass cut from crystal. Which is to say that it wasn't exactly perfect but her voice was made all the more beautiful for the impurities to it. 

Huh.

How does he know what crystal glasses are like? He has never had any-  ~~ but he  _ has _ had them- a flash of gold light and ~~ he quickly  ~~ forgets ~~ refocuses on The Scientist's words.

"-the easy part. Let's see what you have so far." 

When she's finished speaking, he thinks of his notes which appear on the table in front of him. He picks them up, makes sure they are all in order, and offers them to her shyly. He faintly feels like a student handing in a half-done assignment to their teacher. She gently, as if these were sacred texts and not the clumsy notes of a man who was almost at the end of his tether, takes them from him and reads through them.

He bites his lip, watching her nervously. She sets the papers down on the table, shifting to sit on her stool properly. She twiddles her fingers in the air and a red pen appears in her hand.

She starts mumbling to herself as she annotates his work. When she's done she hands him his notes back. Brian is mildly surprised as he flicks through the pages. There… isn't as much red ink as he expected. 

When he looks up at her, she is grinning and there's a gleam in her eyes that makes him reflexively smile back at her.

"Shall we get to work?" The Scientist cheerfully asks. 

Things after that blur into an endless stream of discussions and tests and retests and many tangents into various topics from both of them. They practically dance around her workshop as they work together to craft a cure for the plague infecting his home.  ~~ He has danced like this before with someone making something important- a flash of gold light and he doesn't recall. ~~ He is distantly aware that she keeps looking at him as she makes something else that she waves him away from.

He is more focused on making the cure than anything else so he doesn't pry further.

Eventually, when Brian is swaying where he stands from exhaustion, mere moments from collapse, The Scientist lets out a triumphant cry. 

She holds up a vial to the light of her flameless lanterns. It is full of a cloudy red fluid that swirls in the vial. It reminds him of translucent blood. "Perfect!"

She turns to Brian and presses the cool vial into his hand. He feels relief flood into him as he sits down for the first time in- Hours? Days? Weeks? Months?- a long time.

He has a cure.

His town will be saved.

"You should be able to replicate this once you get back to your plane." The Scientist tells him. “I’ll make sure that you remember the process when you leave.” She turns away as she speaks and grabs a slightly smaller vial. She turns back to him and offers it to him. The fluid inside this new vial is visibly thicker than the cure and rather than red, it is a rich blue with a green and purple sheen. 

Brian stares at the new vial unable to guess why she was giving this one to him too. The Scientist smiles and takes a hold of his hand that doesn't have the cure in it. She presses the new vial into his palm and gently closes his fingers around the glass. 

The new capsule in his hand is warm and seems to pulse like a heart beating.

"This is the other thing I said I would make for you." She tells him. He feels guilty for a moment for zoning out earlier. She must sense his guilt or read it on his face because she gently tells him. "Right now you can get just as sick as your patients and you will not be able to administer the cure to yourself."

His heart sinks as he sees the truth to those words. 

She continues on, tapping his hand with the second vial in it. "That's what this is for. If you choose to drink it, you will be unable to die by mortal means and you will be immune to mortal diseases." She fixes him with a very serious look. "Do not give it to anyone else and do not tell anyone that you have it. Being unable to die  _ does not _ mean unable to be harmed."

Brian looks at her in shock. Immortality? For him? Conditional immortality but still- the fact that she was still giving it to him so that he could help people without fearing that he would die by the very things that were killing them.

It's too much.

He swallows, tears of gratitude welling in his eyes. Brian croaks. "I-I don't-!" He inclines his head and says, roughly around the lump in his throat. "You're too kind, Enlightened One."

There's a pressure on the top of his head and warmth fills his heart at the same time as the exact recipe for the cure appears in his mind. He looks up to see her leaning back from him. She had, he realized, kissed his head.

The Scientist smiles at him. "It's the only logical protection to give you! Now. You're obviously exhausted so don't drink it now. You can drink it after you rest. Or don't! The choice is yours! Don't worry though, if it ever leaves your possession it will become inert!" She sighs and admits. "I had to implement that safety measure a while ago…"

Brian relaxes at the assurance that he wasn't required to drink it. Her mention of safeguards was a relief as well. He didn't want to accidentally be the cause of a rogue immortal.

"Thank you. I-I will think about your gift more-" He stops to yawn. "A-After I have rested." 

"Very wise." The Scientist says nodding at him. She smiles and touches his cheek gently. "Good night, Brian. May the Baron bless you with pleasant dreams."

Brian smiles and nods before yawning again, his eyes closing. When he opens them again, he is back in his room, seated on the edge of his bed. A glance at the clock on the wall shows that no time has passed at all since he started praying and now. 

He pats his coat down and relaxes as he hears a clinking noise coming from his pocket. The vials are there. He really did craft a cure and receive a boon from The Scientist. He pulls off his coat and sets it aside before flopping back on his bed. 

Within moments he's asleep and his dreams are indeed good.

A few hours later, the morning sun wakes him and he stretches, absently sending a thank you prayer to The Lovers for waking him. He slowly gets up, grabbing his coat as he goes, and gets himself some tea and toast. While the tea is steeping and the bread is toasting, Brian pulls the vials out of his pocket and examines them. 

Here in the mortal realm they don't look as intense. The cure isn't as brilliant a shade of red. The boon isn't quite as shimmery. But they're here, in his hands. Physical proof that he had worked alongside a Goddess to make a cure and was rewarded for his ingenuity.

He sets them on the table as he rescues his toast from almost burning. Brian watches the vials as he sits back down and slowly has his breakfast. He is chewing on the last of the toast as he carefully picks up the immortality vial and thinks hard about what The Scientist had said it covered.

Immune to mortal diseases. So he could still get sick, it just had to be something that was made by the Gods. 

He couldn't be killed by mortal means. Unless one of the Pantheon decided they didn't like him and smote him where he stood, he couldn't be killed.

Being immortal didn't mean that he couldn't be harmed. People could injure him but he couldn't die at their hands.

He can't tell anyone about it and he can't give it to anyone else. It made sense as it was a gift crafted specifically for him.

It would become inert if he somehow lost it or gave it away. She said that she had made that mistake in the past and regretted it.

He uncorks the bottle and carefully inhales. It smells sweet and salty at the same time. It… doesn’t smell bad at all. The scent teases a forgotten memory from his mind-

_ Salt water taffy is delicious and very, very sticky when warm. He makes a face at his sticky hands and lips while someone laughs at him.  _ ~~_ He knows this person, he trusts them, they're a good friend. There's a flash of gold light and he forgets their name, their face  _ ~~ -

Brian looks at the bottle some more before softly saying. "I… I don't deserve this gift but I will accept it so that I can help others."

And with that he drinks the contents of the vial.

It is smooth and slow like honey slowly dripping down his throat. It tastes sweet like honey too. Honey and something else, something more earthy that restarts that warmth in his heart that The Scientist kissing his head started. When the vial is empty he expects to feel different somehow. 

He doesn't. 

He is still just Brian, the past-less wanderer who was saved from a landslide by the grace of the Gods and the compassion of a nearby town.

A town, he thinks as he gets up from the table and turns to his workstation with resolve burning alongside The Scientist's gift in his chest, that he will repay the kindness of ten-fold.

~0.0~

In her realm, the Goddess known as The Scientist jolts as she realizes something.

"Ah. I probably should have warned him about the not aging part of his immortality…" She murmurs. She briefly contemplates her new immortal, feeling his dedication to his role of doctor and shrugs. "Oh well. He's smart. He'll figure it out soon enough!"


End file.
